Kansas Supremes Strike Down Sobriety Check Refusal Law

(AP) – The Kansas Supreme Court has struck down as unconstitutional a state law that punishes suspected drunken drivers who refuse to submit to a sobriety test.

The state’s high court, by a 6-1 vote Friday, declared the law a violation of the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

Under Kansas law, refusing to submit to a sobriety test has been punishable by a one-year suspension of the driver’s license.

Friday’s ruling came a little more than two months since the U.S. Supreme Court announced it also will decide whether states can criminalize a driver’s refusal to take an alcohol test even if police have not obtained a search warrant.

Roughly a dozen states make it a crime to refuse to consent to warrantless alcohol testing.